“We Are Marshall”
Olivia Avery
7/16/14
English 101
Boose
The movie “We Are Marshall” is a movie about football. The movie isn’t just a normal football movie. It’s a movie that shows how a town and a college rebuilds after the tragedy that they went through. The town of Huntington, West Virginia and Marshall University went through the tragedy of a plane crash that killed seventy-five people, including football players, coaches, fans, boosters, mothers, fathers, doctors, lawyers and even governors. From this experience people had a choice to rebuild or continue to mourn their loved ones. Nate Ruffin, Donald Dedmon and Coach Jack Lengyel chose to rebuild through ways of leadership, optimism and morals.
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They recruit guys from soccer, basketball, a farm and even other football teams to come and play for them. Lengyel has a new vision for Marshall, and calls them the “Young Thundering Herd.” Jack is the person to do things that most coaches wouldn’t do because that just in his personality. As a result he seeks out help from Bobby Bowden, the coach of the University of West Virginia. Jack asks him “if He and Dawson can see the coaches’ videos, plays, and handbooks and even if he had any tips for them.” Bowden laughs at first and asks “if Jack was serious…” He then see that the men are serious and allows them to view the tapes, rules, handbooks and anything else they wanted. He does this because Bowden understands that a team is in grief and confusion. When this happens Dawson’s disbelief that he had about the team and Jack trying to help changes and he becomes a little bit more optimistic about the future of Marshall and the town.
Jack not only changes the people around him and makes them see that there is a brighter day, but he also rebuilds their morals and confidence. He does this in various scenes of the movie. For instance, when Jack asked Dedmon to challenge the NCAA and all Dedmon was getting back was rejection letters. Jack asked him if he was
In Remember the Titans we witness Coach Boone fighting for civil rights, signifying the image of an outsider integrating into a foreign white team as their coach. Director Boaz Yakin, uses techniques to strengthen Coach Boone’s character where the initial hate and disrespect towards him succours the development of a meaningful arc. The disrespect and aggression is employed when a brick is thrown through his house window, threatening him with the derogatory coloured comments calling him “Coach Coon”. The pressure of quitting was not felt and heroically he encompasses the journey with Yakin emphasising Boones evocative discipline and determination forcing integration amongst the segregated football team. This technique is employed when we witness Coach Boone stepping up, pushing equality for the players in a determined strike to stop racial abuse for good. His actions initiate the forced building of friendship and acceptance when he forces both races to get to know and accept each other at the camp. Yakin heightens the themes of overcoming racism when Boone rallies the troops together to support their team mate during a sad time. Instinctively, the implicit segregation is evoked further bringing unity to the team, Coach Boone emerges as a ‘hero’ to both the coloured and white community.
In order to live up to the reputation of the town and peers, the Permian Panthers and the coaches set goals so that they will have a winning season. The goal that is set is to win the state championship and nothing, including injury will change that goal. This occurs when Boobie Miles, the star running back, chooses to play in spite of a torn ALC, rather than yielding to the unimaginable pain that he is in. The team imposed a structure, which establishes the goals and values of the team, therefore reinforcing the team’s solidarity to winning the championship not only for them but for the town.
On the contrary, Jack chooses how to act regardless of his role models, meaning that he can be held accountable for his own actions. From the beginning of the memoir Jack is depicted as an immature child whose dream it was to transform into someone different. Jack’s dreams of transformation get further and further from reality predominantly due to how he decides to act and the people he chooses to spend his time with. Jack is responsible for his own actions as he is the one who actually decides how he acts. A moment in the memoire where Jack’s delinquency is depicted is when Jack states that “[he] was a thief.
Violence begins to emerge in Jack at the end of the novel. This is the last quality that shows Jack is a dynamic character. By the end of the book, Jack has become a murderer. Not only
But Jack cannot change the past. Rather, he must reflect on it as it really happened, allowing those reflections to guide his future conduct and to enrich his relationships with those whom he has helped or hurt. By the end of the story, instead of running from his past, Jack has begun to make restoration for its mistakes by finally marrying his beloved Anne and opening his home to Elliot Burden, the man he long believed to be his father. Jack’s contemplation of the past leads him not to despair, but to a deeper understanding of and compassion for the human race.
In the film, “We are Marshall”, there is a major theme that includes being able to move on and a rebuilding of a community after a tragic event. In the following paragraphs I will be discussing with a chain of events how football helped rebuild a community after a tragic event and how religion and sport are intertwined. This paper is significant because within a short span it highlights different aspects of not only rebuilding a football team but a community. This paper is important because it shows how the concept of structural functionalism played a big part in this film in addition to the socialization of youth and adults in the community. This paper will also talk about major points and scenes from the film that have a connection with the
The film wasn’t about that 13-0 record and winning a state championship, but the struggle that came with it and all the hardships they had to deal and get past. Racism, prejudice, compassion and love were all key aspects of this film as shown. The racism, prejudice of the team when they first met was severe and had been changed. The love and compassion came as the team grew to become one unit and love each other and be able to become something more powerful than they could be by themselves.
Sports Illustrated writer, Lee Jenkins, writes about the impact of a small-town football coach had on his community, before and after death in the article “A Good Man Down.” The author explains the life of Ed Thomas, the head coach for the Apilington-Parkersburg football team in Iowa. Ed Thomas was shot and killed while training his athletes by Mark Becker. Lee Jenkins begins by using very detail accounts to bring out the pathos of the town, bringing the audience to feel emotionally connected to the town of Parkersburg.
The novel begins with preseason football in the heat of a Texas summer. The players and coaches practice over 4 hours a day in 100-degree weather. The media is affecting every player pushing for a state championship and college scouts at every practice. The boys who gave completely of themselves for their sport are unique personalities. From dedicated quarterback Mike Winchell to Harvard-bound Brian Chavez to the inscrutable Ivory Christian, the team was full of young men who were singular human beings, each one bringing something special and indefinable to their group. And that's just scratching the very surface.The book recounts the tragic story of Boobie Miles, team’s star running back who had been highly recruited by all of the major programs. He is expected to attend and earn a scholarship to a large state college. The community
Most people don’t realize that the media play up the stereotypes and gender roles that are out there. We don’t realize that the movies and television shows we watch feed into the stereotypes and gender roles that we believe in. Remember the Titans, directed by Boaz Yakin, tells the story about a high school football coach, Herman Boone, attempting to integrate T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria in 1971. Boone coming to T.C. Williams High School really upset many parents and students. When the parents of the football players found out he was going to be helping the head coach, Bill Yoast, many were fuming with anger. Why? Because he is African-American. Parents did not want their children playing African-American children in sports or sitting next to them in classrooms. This movie is based on a true story and the film challenges everything we claim we know about discrimination and racism in school.
Jack stopped at nothing to control situations on the island. He would make decisions even when none were there to be made. From the first interaction, upon arriving at Ralph’s call he ordered his team to line up standing. That selfishness is one of the ingredients that later help Jack
Jack was a very power hungry young boy. Although he doesn't have any power at the beginning of the novel, he took every opportunity to take the position of chief and was eventually successful. Jack's dictatorial style of leadership contrasted very directly with the more democratic and passive style of Ralph. Jack ruled with an iron fist, allowing no one to question him or his leadership. Jack represented the wanting for a single, all-powerful leader to guide the followers of society using any means he feels necessary.
Sports are a significant part of society and spectators enjoy particular events regardless of the type. However, there are many players who develop special working and social relationships with whom they are participating regardless of the type of sport. The relationship and how people interact with one another can be the determination of how successful a team can be. The particular film based on a true story that I chose is titled When the Game Stands Tall. This film consists of a high performing football team of De La Salle High School in the state of California. Jim Caviezel portrays the head coach (Bob Ladouceur) as a man with such vision and passion that goes beyond the fundamental principles of coaching the game of football. The football team had won 151 games without being defeated which is the highest winning record a team has had in the game of football. The film shows the internal struggles of the players in their lives as people, and how they perform on the field. It also shows the external tragic difficulties that they face while they attend and play for De Le Salle High School. In the movie, the head coach helps the students/players by not only coaching them but also showing them how to live a flourishing life by committing to endure difficult life situations and the way to overcome them. He helps teach the principles of brotherhood and companionship with the team that they build. In the movie, the head coach and the staff had taught the players
Jack does not shape his own life. Many times in the novel Jack imagines who he wants to be, and gives other people the impression that he's someone else, but he never tries to achieve anything to become what he imagines. Early on, he had a pen pal he wrote to, “We were supposed to write once a month but I wrote at least once a week, ten, twelve, fifteen pages at a time. I represented myself to her as the owner of a palomino horse named Smiley who shared my encounters with mountain lions, rattlesnakes, and packs of coyotes on my father’s ranch, the Lazy B”(13). This is a good example, its shows how he imagines things and tries to make other people believe that’s who he is, which happens numerous times in the memoir. When he arrived at the Welch’s farm, he saw himself being in the same situation that the Welchs were in. This shows that he has no ambition to become anything, and just assumes he will have a bad life. All this is mostly due to the fact that no one inspires him to do anything. Another example of this is his attitude about school. He wants to be good and educated like his brother, yet he does horribly in school and gets worse every year.
This is the first time jacks true feelings come out and he turns into psycho jack which is connected with the theme. This Scene we get with jack shows the importance of this topic and how it has a deeper meaning.